Sewing machine



Feb. 25, 1941. J. M. WASHBURN SEWING MACHINE Filed Mai-ch 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Shed; 1

Feb. 25, M URN 22335088 SEWING-MACHINE Filed uai-cn 9. 1939 Invert/for:

His A2160 rrve ys whnzmwashbmw Patented Feb. 25, 1941 PATENT OFFICE SEWING MACHINE John M. Washburn, West Hartford, Comm, assignor to The Merrow Machine Company, Hartford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut l Application March 9,

16 Claims.

able hem-fold-gauge or blade operable by the a work as the latter is moved by the feed. That is, if the work is raised and lowered, as by the feed, the movable gauge blade is free to assume substantial coincidence with any plane into which the work may be moved. Thus angular relation of the blade relative to the work which would tend to separate plies of the latter is avoided.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, elements of the present invention are illustrated as embodied in an overseaming machine 25 of the well known Merrow type and in associa tion with certain devices shown included with such a machine in subject matter of U. S. Patent #1,941,452, granted to me January 2, 1934.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of sewing mechanism embodying my invention. The presserfoot shank is shown in section.

Figure 2 is an elevation view partly in section Figure '7 is a sectional view on line '|I of Figure 8 is a sectional view on line 6-8 of Fig. 50 7, and- Figure 9 is a detail view of an element hereinafter more fully described.

Referring to the drawings, stitch forming mechanism of the type of machine partially il- 65 lustrated, includes the needle I and upper looper 1939, Serial No. 260,817

2 which together with a lower looper 3 cooperate to form and apply overedge stitches to material comprising the work as it is advanced by the feed mechanism across a needle plate 4 which maybe supplemented for support of the work by work plate 5. Feed mechanism includes presserfoot 6 and feed dogs I and 8. Trimming mechanism including adjustable cutters 9 and Ill D- erates in a well known manner for trimming the work simultaneously with the stitching operation thereon. A stitch finger I1 is adjustably secured to presserfoot 6 by screw I8 passing through the stitch finger shank. A portion IQ of the latter projects beyond the edge of the presserfoot and serves as a guide and to hold down the free edge of material as it approaches the trimming cutters.

In the formation of a blind stitch hem, such as indicated on the work shown in Fig. 5, an edge of material as 20, prepared by the trimming cutters, is secured by overedge stitches 2| to a folded edge 22. Several elements cooperating to control the work are mounted on a carrier or slide 23 which to permit of its adjustment transversely to the .direction of feed is fitted in dovetail relation to a support 24, the latter being secured to the machine frame by screw 25. Adjustment of the slide is effected by aknurled headed screw 26' threaded into support 24 and having a flange or collar 21 in engagement with a groove 28 in said slide, the latter having associated therewith by screw 29 a clamping block 30 by means of which the slide, in any desired adjustment, may be securely maintained.

The work controlling elements supported by slide 23 comprise hem fold or edge guides 3| and 32 and a gauge blade 33,the latter serving both to hold the stitch receiving folded edge 20 of the material in contact with guide 3| and to gauge the width of fold which determines the depth of hem to be produced. Of the edge guides mentioned, the one 3| consisting of a rigidly secured bar, extends over the work plate transversely to the direction in which the work is fed and presents a preferably undercut shoulder 34 for engagement by the folded edge of the work as indicated, while flatwise, the margin of the work including the fold is supported by the upper surface 35 of the free end of the bar, which at its other end is adjustably secured to slide 23 by screw 36. Referring now to the other edge guide 32, its normal position is that in which it is shown in Fig. 5. While in this position the edge guide is effective to direct an edge of material to receive needle penetrations precisely therein provided the material edge is even and uninterrupted. If, however, this normal relation of the guide were maintained during an interval when an irregularity of the fabric edge 20 traversed the effective engaging surface of the guide, the material adjacent the irregularity would be pushed beyond the alignment required to produce the desired result, and frequently the amount of such displacement would be beyond the line of stitching and result in failure of the needle to penetrate the material in the vicinity of the irregularity, as at a cross seam, thereby causin skipped stitches."

Such objectionable displacement of the fabric edge may be eliminated by a slight shifting of guide 32 during contact therewith of an irregularity such as produced by a transverse seam as 31. To permit yielding of the guide, it may be pivotally secured to slide 23 by a screw 38. Contact between one end of the guide and a shoulder 33 of the slide 23, limits in one direction such movement of the guide as that imparted by spring 40 which is held in a bore of the slide by screw 4|. The position of the guide assumed under the influence of said spring 40 is that which has been referred to as normal with respect to the stitching elements. To compensate for such deflection of the work as would occur due to the effect of an immovable guide upon an irregularity in the folded edge, said guide is rendered yieldable by the light spring 40 above mentioned, it being understood that displacement of the edge fold in the opposite direction to that in which the guide yields is prevented by virtue of engagement of the cross-seam or other irregularity by elements of the feed and presserfoot. That such engagement may take place without disarrangement of hem folds during feeding action, the needle plate 4, provided with the usual feed slots 42 and 43 and needle slot 44, is formed with an inclined surface 45 which extends under the work engaging surface of the presserfoot sufficiently to permit bulk of the seam to be fed in normal or uncompressed condition just under the fiat portion 46 of the presserfoot so that when the feed dogs rise to engage the work at the seam bulk the latter is compressed between parallel surfaces substantially at commencement of the work advancing movement of the feed dogs. For effecting additional confinement at this area, of the several plies of material comprising the work, a portion of the presserfoot finger I! is extended to overlie the adjacent end of guide 32. This arrangement of presserfoot part and yieldable edge guide is similar to that shown in Patent #1,941,452, above mentioned, and insures proper direction of material past the trimming cutters.

Both the uppermost level surface of the needle plate and the relatively inclined surface 45 thereof may be serrated as indicated for the usual purpose of preventing backward slipping of the work. It will be noted also that the top or level surface of needle plate 4 and the corresponding surface 35 of edge guide or bar 3| are in a plane slightly above flat surface 48 of work plate 5. Thus when a folded margin of work is introduced into the machine for application of stitching thereto, it is engaged beneath the presserfoot and extended from there to guide bar 3! in a plane slightly above work plate 5 and thence over the down-turnd front edge of said plate. As the feed operates upon the work while the latter is under slight tension such as manually applied in directing the folded margin to the feed, that portion of said margin in the interval between guide bar 3i and needle plate 4 is moved up and down in unison with like movements of the feed dogs. It is in this interval between guide bar 3| and needle plate 4 that the above mentioned gauge blade 33 is introduced for performing its function of gauging width of hem fold and of holding the edge of the fold against the undercut shoulder 34 of guide bar 3|. It will be apparent that if the comparatively wide gauge blade 33 were held stationary between the rising and falling plies of the hem fold margin, the plies of the fold would be separated except when contiguously parallel with respective sides of the blade. Said blade to comply with the object of my invention is therefore mounted in a manner to permit movement thereof corresponding to that of the described up-and-down movement of the hem fold margin. For this purpose any suitable arrangement may be employed. As illustrated in the drawings, the gauge blade 33 is pivotally associated with slide 23 by means including a block 49 which is adjustably secured in a channel 50 of said slide by a collar screw 5|, the screw hole in the block being of a diameter sufficiently greater than that of the screw to permit of whatever adjustment may be required. For definitely effecting such adjustment, screws 52 and 53 are carried by block 49 on respectively opposite sides of screw 5|, see Fig. 8. From a socket in offset portion 54 of block 49 a stud 55 projects over work plate 5 transversely to the direction in which the work is advanced by the feed. Stud 55 may be conveniently made by forming it of a rod 69 and a tube 10, said rod forming a reduced portion 51 and the tube being shaped as shown (see Fig. 6) to form shoulders 64 and 68 for a purpose that will hereinafter more fully appear. A set screw 56 is provided to hold stud 55 in its socket. Sleeved upon the reduced portion 51 of stud 55 is a hub 58 having a shouldered end 59 to receive in rigid engagement therewith an arm 60 which is integral with and anguuarly extended from gauge blade 33. This arm 60 constitutes a flange at right angles to blade 33 and presents a gauge surface for contact with a folded edge of material comprising the work. Said gauge surface indicates to an operator the depth of fold required to produce the maximum gauge of hem obtainable with this blade. For use in producing lesser depths of hem, a collar 6|, having an arm 62, may be adjustably mounted upon hub 58 and held in any desired position along said hub by a set screw 53. Thus arm 62 may be located at any desired distance from the free end of blade 33 to serve as a gauge surface in lieu of arm 60. Hub 58 extended from arm 60 is held against longitudinal movement on the reduced portion 51 of stud 55 by shoulder 64 on the latter and a washer 65 secured by screw 66 threaded into the free end of said stud. For limiting pivotal'action of hub 58 within angular range of movement imparted thereto through effect of work on gauge blade 33 as above described, said hub and stud are provided with respective longitudinally extending shoulders 61 and 58.

Referring again to adjustability of several of the parts above described attention is directed to the fact that adjustment of slide 23 by screw 26 provides for precise location of guide 32 relative to the stitching line while the separate and independent means for permitting adjustment of guide 3| and gauge 33 laterally with respect to the stitching line provide for possible required variation in position of the three elements indicated relative to each other..

To exclude lint from between slide 23 and guide 32 a cover plate ll may be provided andgheld in place by screw 36 passed through hole 12 in side flange 13, see Figs. 3 and 4.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: H

1. In a sewing machine comprising a work support, work-feeding means and an edge guide, a gauge including a blade for edgewise engagement with the work, and means for supporting the gauge with an edge of its blade in cooperative relation to the edge guide, sald'blade being normally free to rise and fall with the work as the latter is advanced by the feeding means, and the said edge'of said blade moving in a plane perpendicular to said work'support.

2. In a sewing machines'comprising a work support, work-feeding means and an edge guide, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work, means for supporting the gauge with an edge of its blade in cooperative relation to the edge guide, said blade being normally free to rise and fall in unison with the work as the latter is advanced by said feeding means, the said edge of the blade moving in a plane-perpendicular to the work support, and means for limiting the rise and fall of the blade.

3. In a sewing machine comprising a needle plate, a guide member in advance of the needle plate, said guide member having a shoulder thereon and a surface for flatwise engagement with the work in a plane substantially coincident with the work-engaging surface of the needle plate and work-feeding means, a gauge including a blade cooperative with the shoulder on the guide member, and means for supporting the gauge to locate the blade flatwise to said plane, said blade being normally free to move in a plane perpendicular to said needle plate.

4. In a sewing machine having a needle plate, a work support with a work-engaging surface in a plane slightly below the plane of the workengaging surface of the needle plate and a guide member overlying the work support in advance of the needle plate and having a surface for flatwise engagement with the work in a plan substantially coincident with the work-engaging surface of the needle plate, a gauge including'a blade for flatwise engagement with the work intermediate the guide member and needle plate, and means for supporting the gauge to permit free movement of the blade transversely to its flatwise extent.

5. In a sewing machine comprising a needle plate, work-feeding means, an edge guide laterally adjacent the feeding means and yieldable from a normal guiding position and a guide member in advance of the needle plate having a surface for fiatwise engagement with the work in a plane substantially coincident with th workengaging surface of the needle plate, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work intermediate the guide member and needle plate, and means for supporting the gauge to permit free movement of the blade transversely to its flatwise extent.

6. In a sewing machine comprising a work support, work-feeding means, a slide, a support for the slide adjacent the work support and an edge guide carried by the slide, a gauge member including a flat blade having an edge cooperative with the edge guide, and means for associating the gauge with the slide to normally permit free movement of the blade, the said edge of the blade moving in a plane perpendicular to the work support and parallel to the direction of movement of the work.

'7. In a sewing machine comprising a needle plate, work-feeding means and an edge guide mounted for yielding movement from a normal guiding position, a gauge cooperative with the edge guide in advance of the needle plate, and

a horizontally disposed pivotal support for the gauge extending transversely of the path of work advanced by the work-feeding means, said gauge being normally free to swing on its support in a plane perpendicular to said needle plate.

8. In a sewing machine comprising stitching elements, work-feeding means, a needle plate slotted to accommodate the feeding means and having an incline transversely intersected by the path of movement of the work-feeding means, said incline being in advance of the stitching elements and a presser foot having its surface opposed to the needle plate extended over the inclined surface of the needle plate, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work, and a pivotal support for the gauge extending transversely of the path of movement of the work, said blade being normally free to swing on its pivotal support in a plane perpendicular to the needle plate to rise and fall with the work as the latter is advanced by the workfeeding means.

9. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, work-feeding means, a needle plate slotted to accommodate the feeding means and having an incline transversely intersected by the path of movement of the feeding means, said incline being in advance of the stitching elements, a presser foot having its surface opposed to the needle plate extended over the inclined surface of the needle plate and a guide member in advance of the needle plate having a surface for flatwise engagement with the work in a plane substantially coincident with the uppermost surface of the needle plate, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work intermediate the guide member and the needle plate, and gauge-supporting means adapted to permit free movement of the blade transversely to its flatwise extent.

10. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, work-feeding means, a needle plate slotted to accommodate the feeding means and having an incline transversely intersected by the path of movement of the feeding means, said incline being in advance of the stitching elements, a presser foot having its surface opposed to the needle plate extended over the inclined surface of the needle plate and a guide member in advance of the needle plate having a surface for flatwise engagement with the work in a plane substantially coincident with the uppermost surface of the needle plate, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work intermediate the guide member and the needle plate, gauge-supporting means adapted to permit free movement of the blade transversely to its flatwise extent, and an edge guide opposed to a free edge of the blade.

11. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, work-feeding means, a needle plate, a support for the needle plate, a slide carried by the support for movement laterally of the line of feed, means for adjusting the slide, a rigid guide member adjustably secured to the slide extending across the line of feed and having a surface for flatwisc engagement with the work in a plane substantially coincident with the workengaging surface of the needle plate and a yieldable edge guide mounted on the slide for engagement. with the work intermediate the rigid guide and the stitching elements, a gauge including a blade for flatwise engagement with the work and with an edge of the blade opposed to the work-engaging surface of the yieldable edge guide, a rod extended transversely to the line of feed above the path of work, means for adjustably associating one end of the rod with the slide, and means for movably associating the gauge with the other end of the rod whereby the blade of the gauge is free to move transversely to its flatwise extent.

12. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, work-feeding means and an edge guide having its work-engaging surface extended along one side of the line of stitching, a gauge including a blade for fiatwise engagement within a fold of material comprising the work and means for supporting the gauge with the work-guiding free edge of its blade adjacent the work-engaging surface of the edge guide, said supporting means normally permitting free movement of the work-guiding free edge of the blade in a plane perpendicular to the work support and parallel to the line of movement of the work as the latter is advanced by the work-feeding means.

13. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements and a yieldable edge guide having its work-engaging surface extended along one side of the line of stitching, a gauge includin a blade for flatwise engagement with the work on the other side of the line of stitching with a free edge of the blade adjacent to the work-engaging surface of the yieldable edge guide, a stud support over the path of the work with its axis transverse to the line of stitching and substantially parallel to the fiatwise plane of said blade, and means associating the gauge with the stud for pivotal movement of the blade about the stud axis.

14. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, a work support on one side of the line of stitching and a movable carrier on the other side of the line of stitching, a gauge member including an arm. having a blade extended therefrom to present a free edge remote from the arm and means interposed between the carrier and said arm whereby the blade is supported over the work support with iiatwise engagement with the work and with said free edge of the blade adjacent the line of stitching, said means comprising pivotal elements permitting ifree movement of the blade about an axis which is transverse to the line of stitching and substantially parallel to the work-engaging surface of the work support.

15. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, a work support on one side of the line of stitching and movable carrier on the other side of the line of stitching, a gauge member including an arm having a blade extended therefrom to present a free edge remote from the arm, and means interposed between the carrier and said arm whereby the blade is supported over the work support for flatwise engagement with the work and with said free edge of the blade adjacent the line of stitching, said means comprising pivotal elements having interengaging hubs which permit limited movement of the blade about an axis which is transverse to the line of stitching and substantially parallel to the work-engaging surface oi the work support.

16. In a sewing machine having in combination stitching elements, a work support on one side of the line of stitching and a movable carrier on the other side of the line of stitching, a gauge member including an arm having a blade extended therefrom to present a free edge remote from the arm, means interposed between the carrier and said arm whereby the blade is supported over the work support for flatwise engagement with the work and with said free edge of the blade adjacent the line of stitching, said means comprising pivotal elements permitting movement of the blade about an axis which is transverse to the line of stitching and substantially parallel to the work-engaging surface of the work support, and an element having an arm cooperative with said blade, said element being adjustably mounted on one of said pivotal elements.

JOHN M. WASHBURN. 

